glass beach was started in 2016 by singer/songwriter J McClendon of casio dad and their then roommates William White and Jonas Newhouse of 8-Bit Johnson. They proceeded to spend the next three years writing, recording, and rerecording several songs which eventually became their debut "the first glass beach album." Shortly after the album's release, Layne Smith of Here Lies the Hero joined originally to play lead guitar for live shows but is now a core member of the band. "the sound of glass beach is a fusion of our diverse range of influences including 1960s jazz, new wave, early synthesizer music, and emo, but all presented with the harshness and irreverence of punk music. we embrace the trend towards genrelessness caused by the democratization of music brought about by the internet and enjoy playing with musical boundaries even to the point of absurdity."